Delicious, relatively healthy pound cake

Jesse and I live by some black berry bushes which are currently producing a lot of berries. I wanted something to eat them with, and found myself craving a pound cake. But, after looking at some recipes for pound cake, I decided I would never eat one again (they are called pound cakes for a good reason).

Then I stumbled upon an excellent recipe for a lemon vegan pound cake. This recipe is adapted from it. The original can be found in Veganonicon (a wonderful vegan cookbook you can purchase here). It is so good….honest…cross my heart.

Healthy Version of Pound Cake

1/2 cup plain, non-fat yogurt
1/2 cup blended silken tofu (blend the tofu first then measure it out)
3/4 cup non-fat milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon zest
1 cup all purpose unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3 tbsp cornstarch
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease a loaf pan (or you could double the recipe and use a bundt pan–but flour it instead of greasing it). Mix the wet ingredients and the sugar in a large bowl. Mix the dry ingredients in a smaller bowl, and combine with the sugar mixture. Mix until smooth and spoon into pan. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until a knife can be poked into the center of the loaf and come out clean.

Beet Cake–something else to eat with goat cheese frosting

This is a great way to use up some extra beets. I halved the recipe and baked it in a 9-inch round pan. I frosted it with the goat cheese frosting, and topped with chopped, toasted pecans.

Beet Cake

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups shredded fresh beet

Preheat the oven to 350 and grease a 13X9 inch pan. Beat eggs, vanilla, oil, and sugar together until fluffy. In a separate bowl, sift flower, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Combine the two mixtures and stir in the beets. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and come out clean.

Carrot Cake with Goat Cheese Frosting

This carrot cake wasn’t my favorite, but it was good (I AM judging it against the best carrot cake in the world which resides at the Upper Crust Bakery in Chico, CA). It was lovely after it sat in the fridge for a while, but I wouldn’t serve it straight from the oven.

I made up the frosting myself since I’m not a fan of cream cheese. If you like goat cheese, I think you’ll find it to be scrumptious!

Carrot Cake (from allrecipes.com)

4 eggs

1 1/4 c. oil (I think you could reduce this if you like)

2 c. sugar

2 tsp. vanilla (I always add extra, though)

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg (my addition)

3 c. grated carrots

1 c. toasted, chopped pecans

1 c. raisins

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and grease a 9X13 inch pan. Mix the first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Mix in the dry ingredients, and then the carrots/nuts/raisins. Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for 40-50 minutes. Let cool and frost.

Goat Cheese Frosting

1 Log of goat cheese, room temperature

Powdered sugar to taste

Vanilla to taste

I just mixed all the ingredients together, tasting and adding until it was to my satisfaction.